We have been Carnival cruisers for years and have enjoyed their cruises. This is the first time we went on the 3-Day Ensenada cruise. The boarding process was great and went quickly, however, I was surprised that you couldn’t carry on sealed/unopened plastic water bottles and the confiscated 4 of them telling is the don’t allow plastic. Kinda funny as soon as we got to the stateroom they provided plastic water bottles at $3.75 each. No worries though as there is plenty of water to drink on board. The ship is the oldest of the fleet and has been refurbished, it was nice and comfortable. The onboard activities were great and the crew was fantastic. The breakfast and lunches were also great. The Lido deck was the place for good food. They opened a burger place called “Guys Burger” – probably the best burger around.

The dinner was another story. We had late dining at 8:15. Normally Carnival schedules the shows after dinner so the early diners get their show then the late diners get their show. They didn’t finish with delivering dessert until after the start of the show so we missed the shows as we didn’t want to enter 30 minutes late. The food at our dining room was like cafeteria food, actually Denny’s is much better. My wife had the apple pie and the crust was so hard you could etch glass, next night she ordered apple pie (same thing) horrible. We have always enjoyed the surf and turf or steak, now they charge and extra $20 per plate for the “better food”?? I am sorry, but I have spent many days on Carnival cruises and the dinners were always something to look forward to – not the case on this cruise. My suggestion is get a late lunch on the Lido Deck and bypass dinner (it is not worth the calorie count). The servers were fantastic and really did a good job with what they had to work with. The selection of food in the dining room is different than we have experienced, they really have down scaled the type and quality of the menu. IE the shrimp cocktail was four small shrimp on a glob of cocktail sauce (you wouldn’t serve that at any dinner party) you know the 60 per bag shrimp – not the 20-30 per bag shrimp.

The pools and jacuzzi’s were great and the deck activities were good as well. The gym was fantastic and the steam room wonderful. Read more